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City calling for acts of kindness for One Boston Day

BOSTON — Four bronze spires ascend to the spring sky across from the Boston Public Library. The spires honor the lives lost in the Boston Marathon bombings.

The scene where a pressure cooker bomb detonated eight years ago Thursday is just feet away from Boston’s storied and iconic Old South Church.

“Here at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, we remember very clearly – I was in the building when those bombs went off. Yes there were two men who did a terrible thing and took lives, but think of the people who rushed in amid the chaos and the danger to help their neighbor, to help the strangers,” said Nancy Taylor, the senior minister of the Old South Church in Boston.

The theme of helping strangers is the foundation for ‘One Boston Day.’ The city is calling on everyone to perform acts of kindness for others and post them to social media.

“Maybe it’s saying hello to a random stranger on the street and not being able to do that anymore,” said passerby Gina.

Some on social media posted that they will be giving blood on the anniversary. Others said they will donate books and clothing.

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“Simple things are sometimes the most impactful,” Gina said.

An opportunity to remember kindness counts and, when practiced, connects us.

“This is all about being together, pulling together,” Taylor said.

On a solemn day as spring flowers bloom, it’s about renewal, resilience and remembrance.

“It’s a big anniversary for us, we have members who were survivors of the bombing, we know people who died, all those feelings will come rushing forward. We will toll our bell at 2:49, we will remember and hold silence, and we also know we will move on, and for the sake of the survivors, for the sake of the dead, we are determined to make this world better and kinder,” Taylor said.

The definition of ‘Boston Strong.’

“Boston coming together as a community, and there was a kindness to that, selflessness,” Gina said.